Arts
If you want a play that brings girls into science, commission a man: Jina and the STEM Sisters reviewed
Jina and the STEM Sisters is a blatant act of propaganda. And its intentions are excellent. This is a musical…
A work of extraordinary delicacy, poignancy and tenderness: Minari reviewed
In the summer of 2018, when film-maker Lee Isaac Chung was on the brink of giving up filmmaking and had…
Community music-making is the jewel in the British crown
Community music-making is the unifying jewel in the British crown, says James MacMillan
Why I’m glad to see the back of Call My Agent!
For the past few weeks I have been binge-watching the Netflix series Call My Agent! (or Dix pour cent, as…
The Virtues
It’s a bit amazing that Hamilton is opening in Sydney on 27 March. Only a few months ago it was…
A Nation Imagined: The Artists of the Picturesque Atlas at the National Library of Australia
If you go to Canberra to see the NGA’s exhibition Botticelli to Van Gogh and are mildly disappointed, your journey…
The dark history of dance marathons
Stuart Jeffries on the dark history of dance marathons
Reminiscent of Roxy Music’s cocktail sound: The Weather Station reviewed
One of the unforeseen consequences of the rise of streaming was a change in the very structure of the pop…
Is Jed Mercurio bored with Line of Duty?
When a drama begins with news of a ‘Chis handler’ receiving ‘intel graded A1 on the matrix’ that causes a…
My favourite failed podcasts
The promise of the internet was supposed to be thus: you could be your own bizarre, inappropriate self, and you…
How 20th-century artists rescued the Crucifixion
Two millennia ago, in the outer reaches of the empire, the Romans performed a routine execution of a Galilean rebel.…
The fossil-hunting is more interesting than the sex: Ammonite reviewed
Ammonite is writer-director Francis Lee’s second film after God’s Own Country, one of the best films of 2017, and possibly…
Promising material squandered: BKLYN – The Musical reviewed
BKLYN — The Musical gives itself a headache for no reason. What does ‘BKLYN’ mean? Perhaps it’s a random jumble…
Ray Lawler
When Brett Sheehy, the departing artistic director of the Melbourne Theatre Company took the stage of the Sumner with the…
French Impressionism from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts at the National Gallery of Victoria
While admiring the collections of French impressionist paintings in American galleries, it is easy to think of them as evidence…
Why In Our Time remains the best thing on radio
In Our Time is the best thing on Radio 4, possibly the best thing on the radio full stop. It…
The mystery and romance of the cassette tape
May the gods of Hiss and Compression bless Lou Ottens. As head of new product development at Phillips, the Dutch…
How real is the performing arts exodus?
Richard Bratby on the post-Covid exodus of talent from the performing arts
There's the kernel of a good show in this copycat Hamilton: Treason the Musical reviewed
Copycat Hamiltons are everywhere. Lin-Manuel Miranda led the way by turning an unexamined corner of history into a smash-hit show.…
Spellbinding: Preparations to be Together for an Unknown Period of Time reviewed
The premise for the unsnappily titled Preparations to be Together for an Unknown Period of Time is this: a Hungarian…
Why are the Oscars such a lousy guide to great cinema?
Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland,predicted to win big at this year’s Oscars, is not a terrible film. It’s a slight, sentimental Grapes…
Revelatory and grubby: Framing Britney Spears reviewed
The most headline-grabbing of these three pop docs was Framing Britney Spears, part of the New York Times Presents documentary…
Apple+'s new series damn near cost me my marriage: Calls reviewed
Calls is the very antithesis of televisual soma. In fact it’s so jarring and discomfiting and horrible that I think…
Britney Spears
The arts world in general —and with it theatre in particular— is opening up. Not only is the Botticelli to…
Johannes Fritzsch
It is hard to imagine a city with a richer cultural history than Dresden or a better place for a…
